Who's behind the mask?
by SilentAvalon
Summary: Naruto has lived behind a mask his whole life, what happens when he gets fed up with his team and slowly lets it dissolve? I know i suck at summaries just read it! No pairings yet help me decide who he should be with. SmartNaruto. DISSCONTINUED!
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

"Please! Please don't hit me anymore." I cried staring up into the rage filled eyes of a villager. The man let a sadistic smile grace his face as I was thrown into the back of the desolate ally, hitting one of the bricks walls with such a force that the breath was knocked out of me. My head throbbed unbearably. Still panting I reached back and felt something warm and slightly sticky, clumping my blonde locks in a tangled, matted mess. Bringing my hand to my face to better examine the unknown substance I saw that it was covered in glistening, crimson liquid. Covered in blood, _my_ blood. My attention had been fully concentrated on the concept that blood was oozing from my body that I barely noticed that the villager had found something that seemed to make him very… pleased. The glint from that metallic _something _caught my eyes and brought me back from my own little world.

"Please! I never harmed you in any way, just leave me be!" I entreated again my voice quivering in fear. Ignoring my plea he brought the iron bar back above his head, his arm trembling with anticipation at the pain he would inflict he swung it down at me in one swift motion. My initial thought was that nothing had happened…that I was okay…until a sickening, cracking sound met my ears. The numbness left as I stared in horror at my left leg. Even at this young age of four, I knew that it was not suppose to bend at that angle, my leg had broken completely. Letting out a deafening howl of pain was a dreadful mistake for this made a wide grin spread across the man's face as he brought the bar back up, preparing for another strike. As a defense, I hurriedly shut my mind off, pushed myself into unconsciousness, so I would no longer feel this pain. Beatings had become a regular thing for me, but never to this extent. _Why did these people hate me so? I haven't done anything wrong, I don't even know most of them, yet they put me into such misery. _Thoughts along these lines flittered through my subconscious as the pain from man's hits became just a soft buzzing in the deepest crevices of my mind. Those questions plagued my mind for years to no avail. Now I know though.

It was human nature to be afraid of things that are powerful, intelligent, and different. Lucky me, I matched all three of those requirements. Do you know what people do to what they fear? They try to destroy it, wipe it off the face of the earth, so that it can no longer scare them. Knowing these things I made a mask for myself. A mask of stupidity, hyperness, and extreme happiness. This mask would hide the real me until I was on top and no one could hurt me. This is a mask known as Naruto Uzumaki, Konohagakure's number one, knuckle-headed, hyper active ninja.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

"Oi! Sakura!" I shouted at my bubblegum haired teammate, an over the top grin on my face, running towards her. It was a wonderful day. The sky was a brilliant, azure blue dotted with puffy cotton ball clouds. Shikamaru was probably laying under some tree, in the shade, watching them drift by until they slowly sunk over the horizon. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by my screeching teammate. Her name Haruno Sakura. She was obnoxious, and annoying. With candy colored pink hair that screamed "FAKE!" that framed her ugly mug. Not that I'm a shallow person or anything if she had a good personality I would like her but the fact was that she didn't. She was a hormonal, abusive girl who was so emotional and Uchiha obsessed that you couldn't say one thing without getting a rap on the head.

"Naruto! Your too loud, try being more like Sasuke." The said girl stated while hitting me on the outside of my head as expected, but I took the blow trying with all my might not to flinch while recollecting all my previous beatings. She doesn't know what she does to me. No one knows about my past being anything that wasn't sunshine, flowery meadows and rainbows except for a select few who I trusted with my life. I was thwacked again and this time I did flinch but she didn't notice, she didn't my internal suffering. With every hit my soul gets torn apart by devastating, painful memories that appear in my mind, no matter how hard I try to will them away. My select few including my inhabitant, the nine-tailed demon fox, Kyuubi helped me to mend my heart but we all know that tape and glue won't hold forever. Little things can break tape, water can wash away the glue. They all hope I will return to the person I once was but I don't even remember that person anymore.

After a well rehearsed pout I looked at the Uchiha, eyes closed, leaning against one of the smooth polls on the well-worn wooden bridge and internally smirked. 'Sakura, you fool. I'm more like Sasuke then you'll ever know.' But I didn't speak my mind I just glared at the pale-skinned boy and waited for him to say something so then my mask could start yelling and arguing with him, like always.

"What dobe?"

"I told you not to call me that, teme!"

He just gave me a "Hn," and my facade went into a fit of cursing until the Uchiha fangirl gave me another smack over the head. Now that our ritual was done, we impatiently waited for our lazy-ass teacher as I chatted away with Sakura though I know that she wasn't listening and she knew I knew she wasn't listening until finally a poof of smoke appeared and revealed our sensei.

"Your three hours late!" I shouted in unison with the girl whose forehead was unproportional to her face. It was seriously aggravating pretending to be this buffoon, it always gave me a migraine to shout so much, but it's been eight years since I cultivated my mask so you would think that I would be used to it, but unfortunately no. Kakashi as usual gave us some absurd excuse and told us our mission. I scrutinized the silver-haired man. I had always detested the man. He would read porn books in the presence of children, he thinks we don't know about this stuff, please! What does he think we're seven. Another thing about him is that he tries to keep an air of secrecy around him by wearing that mask around the lower section of his face. I came up with my "mask" at the age of four, though it was not tangible, but it surpassed his in many ways in keeping my identity a mystery. Tuning back to what the said man was saying I learned what events the day would bring.

"Today, you will go after a thief who stole one of the Hokage's scrolls. The scroll isn't very important so that's why they're just sending us but this mission is still of utmost importance. Now go!"

"Yeah!" I screamed to the heavens as racing off into the distance, sensing my teammates shake their heads and race after me. 'I'm such first-rate actor if I do say so myself. It's comical how well I've fooled them, I can't wait till I show them the real me.' Feeling their presences on my sides I passed them a smile that portrayed pure, simple bliss while inside I snickered at their idiocy. Little did I know that I would reveal myself sooner then expected.

As we dashed from branch to branch, nimbly, trying to conceal ourselves for a quick, effective ambush, I started to sense the enemy's chakra. Sasuke gave me the signal to back-off and let him take it. Knowing that this enemy was stronger than the young Uchiha I ignored his order and started trying to catch up with him. I watched as the other ninja, clad in black, ornamented with metal platelets and wearing the symbol of the village of lightning, picked up Sasuke like a rag doll and easily tossed him into a tree. The large oak made a cracking sound as my teammate's body started plowing through it. Finally catching up I approached the opposing ninja.

"Naruto! Stay back! He's mine!" the avenger roared. Disregarding his order yet again, I made a kage bunshin and while the lightningnin was preoccupied with my clone I unleashed seventeen percent of my speed and appeared behind him. Before he knew what happened I had already hit him with a precise blow over the neck, knocking him out. Feeling a sense of pride I looked toward my comrades only to see a fist flying toward me. Caught by surprise I barely dodged it.

"What they heck Sasuke!" I growled as he prepared for another attack.

"I told you he was mine I had everything under control!" This time I let the punch connect so as not to reveal myself.

"Not from my view." At this I got a hard kick to the stomach.

"Naruto you idiot! Trying to show off! You could never be as good as Sasuke so why even try!" Sakura added as she finally caught up with us.

"This is what I get for completing the mission quickly and accurately? Well screw this I'm leaving!" Anger raged through my figures as I went through the appropriate hand seals. My aura deadly I gave my so called "team" one final glance before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

After a few miniscule seconds I appeared in front an oh-so-familiar door. My entryway was still stained with the blood from beatings long-ago. No matter how much I scrubbed the stains wouldn't part from the beaten door. The dents from my frail body being repeatedly tossed into the surrounding off-white walls irrevocable. I immediately sensed a familiar chakra before I actually heard the footsteps of the owner walking toward me, echoing down the vacant corridor.

"Ohayo Neji-kun." I greeted gloomily to one of my few true friends. I looked up into his understanding lavender-white eyes that seemed to look into the depths of my soul. Beneath the cold stare was an unknown kindness that compelled me to make friends with this boy. I still remember how I first met him, one of my treasure memories.

FLASHBACK

It was a bitter, autumn morning. The wind was really picking up, shivering I wrapped my small arms around myself trying to gain more body heat as I walked across the field. Though cold I couldn't complain, I always valued time to be myself more than my well-being. Slowly making my way up the slight incline slipping a little every now and again because the grass still had crystalline drops of dew clutching onto them. Nearing the peak of the hill I saw someone down below. Sighing I slipped back into my disguise. A smile was plastered on my face as I rolled down the hill almost colliding with the figure. It was the nine-year old Hyuuga which I remember from my lessons with Kyuubi about the bloodlines of Konaha. The boy was crying, salty tears streaked down his pale face, his long, free hair whipped into his face every now and again, becoming plastered on until he frustrated swipe them away. Even though I nearly plowed him over he seemed not to notice me, stuck in his own safe world. 'Just like me' I thought staring at the brunette looking for any signs of injury.

He would utter lines cursing fate, and being a caged bird. Finding no physical ailment I realized where it must lie. In his heart. At that moment my mask fell, I looked at him with compassion. Looked at the poor little boy full of sorrow just like myself. It was like that for a while, the Hyuuga kid crying endless tears, me starring at him, seeing myself in him, his hair bashing him in the face and then I got an idea. Finding a loose string on my ragged, black cotton shirt I tore it of and tied it into a circle. Sneaking behind the Byakkugan wielder I unnoticeably to him pulled his soft hair back and put it into a low pony-tail. I flinched instinctively when I felt my wrist being grabbed. My eyes met those pearly-lilac eyes of my soon to be friend. Remembering my façade I quickly gave him a toothy grin.

"Ano, I was just…well you seemed to be annoyed by your hair…I just" With my free hand I scratched the back of head trying to make it look like a gesture of discomfort. He just continued to gaze at me until he let go of my wrist. He turned his back on me, taking that as a sign to leave I headed away from him to hear something I would not have expected.

"You lie."

Those two words made my blood boil, I have always been a person with an honest character and this Hyuuga says that I lie! Pivoting I changed my course and headed back towards the older boy.

"What?" My voiced was laced with fear, daring him to say that again.

"You lie about who you are, hiding behind a shadow of lies. Is that really a way to live?" He then looked at me again with those eyes, those all knowing eyes. That was when I broke down the first time in a long time, telling him my pitiful tale and clutching his shirt tightly as I stained them with tears. He didn't say anything, just listened to me and ran his fingers through my hair trying to comfort my aching soul.

FLASHBACK END

He was the first one I ever told about my mask and he accepted me. No one knew how happy I was at that moment, just to feel that I wasn't hated for what I was. Gazing back at my friend my eyes landed on his dark chocolate hair draped down his back and was tied into a low ponytail. I always teased him about how it made him look like a girl, but secretly I would be devastated if he ever chopped off those beautiful locks. He adorned his usual ninja-training garb over his deathly pale skin. I looked back up at the tall boy and gave him a miniscule, sad smile.

"Naruto, your mask is slipping." The Hyuuga stated matter-of-factly as I fumbled through my pockets trying to locate my keys.

"It's been slipping a lot today." I replied solemnly, finally feeling the slick metal under my fingertips.

"I could tell. While practicing out in the forest I felt you unleash more than your usual amount of chakra."

"Did anyone else notice anything?" I questioned slipping the keys into the lock, beaten from fierce villagers trying to break in and ransack the place.

"No. Gai was too busy teaching Lee to notice and Tenten was home with the flu today."

"Typical. Why do you think Gai and Kakashi teach the people who have hardly any amount of potential?" I asked just to see him giving me an are-you-kidding look.

"Well, I know for me it's different because I act like a total idiot but that doesn't mean that Kakashi should just teach Sasuke and you have far more potential than Lee. Gai shouldn't just waste his time on a hopeless student. I'm so much stronger than Sasuke-teme…they just can't see it" I started ranting when my elder friend cut in.

"Naruto, why did you use some of your true power today anyways?" Looking back on today's events my anger flared and I felt my chakra spike. Neji was used to my outbursts but I didn't want to draw more attention to myself than necessary. Taking a necessary, lungful of air I let a strained sigh. My friend waited patiently until I calmed myself down enough to speak.

"We were chasing down a lightningnin, I knew that the Uchiha was far too weak to be able to beat him so I disobeyed orders and took the enemy out myself. And what do I get?! A kick to the stomach and Sakura spewing a bunch of B.S! Sometimes I just want to strangle that girl!"

"You know Naruto, you can let your true self come out anytime now. You are ready." A smile graced the Hyuuga's face for a split second as he encouraged me. I just shook my head and unlocked the door walking into my clean, organized, pure white apartment. The truth was I was a total neat freak and hated disorder, or when anything was out of place which sometimes included myself.

"The time is not yet right. Anyways how would you like a sparring session later today?" I could feel myself giving him my famous fox-grin as I offered a training that the pale-skinned boy would never forget. He gave me a curt nod, stuffed his hands into his pockets and began to walk away. "The usual time and place." I said quietly knowing that he would hear me. Sensing his nod, I shut the wooden door behind me, locking it and ran into the bathroom for a quick icy-cold shower to let out my frustration. As soon as the water was roaring so loudly that I knew no one would hear me I let out a well-needed scream of rage.

Ten minutes later

I hopped out of the shower and shook out my long golden hair. Looking at myself in the mirror I saw that when my hair wasn't spiked up it was quite long, almost down to my shoulder. Not caring I grabbed my black, cotton towel and rubbed my hair until it was dry. Wrapping the towel I slunk back into my bedroom. A small twin size bed stood in the corner, covered with a thick black sheet embroidered with intricate designs in blood-red thread. Next to it stood a small nightstand, a reading lamp stood proudly atop it illuminating the picture frame beneath it. In it showed a picture of my mask smiling like there was no tomorrow, Sakura being a slut, the emo avenger being angsty and my dear old sensei being a pervert. I scoffed at the picture as I made my way to the closet on the opposite side of the room as the bed. Opening the creaky door I scanned my selection. It was filled to the brim with those obnoxious orange jumpsuits. Or at least that's what any normal person would think. I unzipped one of the atrocious suits and inside hung one of my favorite training outfits. I grabbed the black fishnet shirt and dark blue long-sleeved over-shirt and slipped it over my scarred chest. Though Kyuubi could heal my wounds he couldn't heal the scars, the constant reminders of how I was treated by the scum that inhabited this rotting village. Finding the matching pair of loose black shorts I grabbed my blue sandals and shut the closet door. I looked at the slightly cracked mirror next to the closet and nodded in approval at my appearance.

'I still have and hour till I have to meet Neji.' I thought a little depressed as I glanced at my clock that hung dejectedly above the headboard of my bed. Sighing I jumped onto the bed with a thump, rumpling the black covering. Placing my head on the pillow I stared up at the ceiling. _You know Naruto, you can let your true self come out anytime now_. Those words stated by the Hyuuga kept running through my head. 'Am I really ready? He thinks I am but…I don't know. Hey Kyuu. What'cha think?'

**You know kit, I actually agree with the Byakkugan wielder. You can come out when ever you feel like it now.**

'Thanks Kyuu.'

**Yeah, yeah kit. **

He sounded annoyed but I knew that he actually liked talking to me. From the age of eight I've been talking to him, getting to know him and subtly he became one of my best friends. I didn't blame him for what the villagers did to me, for he didn't ask to be sealed into me. Sure he did horrible things but has done me no harm. I vowed from the moment I met him that I would welcome anyone, be it human or demon, with open arms if they wanted refuge, friendship, anything at all. I feared, though, that soon that vow would be broken all because of a certain Uchiha and a pink-haired cow. Just thinking of my two so called 'teammates' made my temper rage again. I gazed back at the clock, hoping that if I stared at it long enough would make time speed up. 'If only they had a jutsu for that.' At that moment, as if on cue to relieve me from my boredom I heard a quick knock on my door. I gave a fake, cheery "one moment", as I slipped my orange disguise over my black clothes and ran to the door. I swung the door open a huge, goofy grin plastered on my face to reveal the boy I was to meet in a half hour. I scowled as I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into my lair as I slammed the door behind him.

"Dang it Neji! If I knew it was you I wouldn't have bothered to put on this ridiculous orange monstrosity!" I fumed as I slipped out of the said monstrosity. As I looked back at the boy I saw a faint trace of pink on his cheeks but ignored it. "So why are you here?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well I figured by now you would be going insane and came to escort you to our sparring session." My lavender-eyed friend replied as if was common sense. To his logic I nodded and again took hold of his wrist and led him back out the way he came, I following him and locking up. My home now secure I jumped from my current location onto a nearby house's roof top. Neji hot on my heels sped up so that now we were running side by side. We darted from tree to tree soundlessly and unseen, in silence. The Hyuuga knew that I rarely chattered on about something, like my alter-ego, unless I had something I really wanted to say, and kept to his thoughts and me to mine.

Arriving at our usual spot on the edges of Konaha's borders we landed in the only clearing between the forests that spread vastly for miles upon miles.

"You ready?" I asked, anxious to get started. Receiving a nod I started the fight with a bang from a bomb tag attached to a kunai that had been thrown at the Hyuuga. He seemed well prepared for he dodged it with ease while activating his bloodline, the Byakkugan. Ready to push the boy to his limits I raced around him speeding up until I knew that he could barely see me now.

"Naruto, how much of your speed are you using this time?" He questioned as he finally began to adapt to my new speed.

"Sixty-five percent." I answered while appearing in front of him and giving him a hard shove, sending him into a nearby tree. I know that that was cheap but he had to learn that some enemies will fight dirty and even he could be taken by surprise. But it was I who was surprised when I saw a log sitting in the place Neji had been a moment ago.

'Substitution jutsu? Very interesting.' I glanced around until felt a kunai held firmly at my neck. Smirking I disappeared in a blur and appeared behind my target kneeing him in the back. He fell to the ground at the impact but recovered quickly enough so as not to be hit in the face by my incoming punch.

**Talking about hitting a person while he's down.** Kyuubi chuckled in the back of my mind.

'Oh hush now! He has to learn and he is! Two weeks ago he would have a very sore cheek at this moment.' I argued to my inhabitant. Suddenly I felt one of my chakra points being sealed off. I hadn't even noticed that Neji had taken an offensive stance and was doing his trademark attack.

'Thanks a lot fur brain!' I yelled at the fox for distracting me but only got a sadistic laugh in return. After quickly unsealing my blocked point with a sudden discharge of chakra I was dogging his 32 of his 64 palms when I noticed something that would come to my advantage. Taking use of this knowledge I dropped to the ground and drop-kicked the Hyuuga's feet from under him. He landed with a thump and tried to recover but it was to late a swirling spiral of blue chakra formed in my hands and was headed towards him. My hand was less than an inch away from my friends face when I slowly let the chakra disperse.

"And that's check mate." I said proudly helping the taller boy to his feet. He sighed and brushed himself off.

"Nice match," he replied, "Now where was my major flaw?"  
"Well I noticed that while you were doing your 64 palms. That after every five strikes your left hand would hesitate for a half second on its next strike, the sixth strike and that gave me enough time to put my plan into motion." He nodded in understanding and gave me a polite "Arigatou." The next two hours I spent helping him with his hesitation problem before he finally mastered the technique.

"Now how about we go get some sushi?" I asked looking pleadingly into those emotionless eyes. He gave a slight nod and we departed from our training ground and headed back to the village.

To be continued in chapter 3…


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

For once I was at peace, free of rage, hatred and loneliness, as I jogged merrily into the park as Neji went into the restaurant to buy our food. I wasn't allowed to eat in many shops, the shopkeepers were so afraid of the customers they would loose if they let a demon into their facilities, so my friends had to buy the food and have me pay them back later. When I was younger and had no friends that was a problem. Stealing food scraps in order to live was some of my worst moments beside the degrading things I was made to do to earn my meals at a couple of the few restaurants that allowed me in. A cold chill swept down my back at the memory, disregarding the memory and sending it back into the dark abyss where it belonged I scanned the park.

It was only a few moments until I found a picture perfect spot. The glossy wooden bench beckoned me to rest my weary legs there, as it calmly stood beneath the shade of an old Sakura blossom tree, gazing at the river now slightly glistening in the setting sun. The branches swayed in the peaceful breeze, a few leaves were swept from their perches and were carried of in the air current, circling around each other as if in a dance until they gently settled in the soft grass growing wild. My breath was taken away, there were only few truly beautiful sights remaining in the world contaminated by us humans and or greed, and this was one of them.

I contently sat on the smooth bench and gazed at the river slowly flowing off into the horizon. My soul was soaring as high as the clouds above, until I felt a familiar, disgusting presence, and my heart plummeted back to earth. Quickly putting a jutsu on myself to make it look like I was wearing my usual attire, I hopped up from my seat walking away from the park, luring the younger Uchiha away, so as when I returned he would be far, far away. I kicked up dirt from the gravel road as I shuffled through the village. After I reached the outskirts of Konaha I spun myself around to face the avenger.

"Why hello Sasuke! Wonderful day isn't it?" I asked as I forced myself to give him my goofy, lopsided grin. I could see the surprise flash through his eyes, though he quickly recovered and gave me his famous glare that would usually make any normal person a bit worried…but I'm not a normal person am I. Returning the glare I asked with a cheery tone, "Why have you been stalking me these past few miles?" I could see a vein starting to bulge on his forehead but ignored it, interested in what reply he would come up with.

"Well, dobe, I came to say that you need to learn your place in this team. I am superior to you, I am stronger, smarter, and more experienced then you. Next time we are on a mission you need to follow my orders and not try to show off to Sakura." At this I tried to suppress a laugh, but failed. I went into a fit of hysterics, clutching my side and wiping a stray tear from my eye, I composed myself. Looking at him I gave the now annoyed ravenette the sign to continue.

"As I was saying, you need to learn that you should let me take care of things. You can never be as powerful as me and you will never catch up with my intellectual capacity, so don't try to go and be the hero. Today, you beating that nin was a fluke, it was all because he had his intention on me that you were able to knock him out." With each word I felt my irritation rising until I felt myself completely lose it. I quickly disappeared into thin air, using 80 percent of my maximum speed and appeared behind the emo. I pressed my kunai to his throat and leaned in towards his ear, "I will never catch up with you? Why, Sasuke…I've already passed you. You are the one who has fallen behind. How do you plan on defeating Itachi with that pathetic bit of chakra and those predictable techniques?" I felt the taller boy, stiffen. "Oh? Have I hit a nerve? Wasn't that the only goal in your life? To kill your big brother who murdered your whole clan? Well, let me just tell you now, you'll never be able to beat him." I quickly loosed my grip on the kunai and brought my arm away from the Uchiha as if he was a contagious disease. I placed a sickly, sweet smile on my face and happily called, "It was nice chatting with you Sasuke-kun." I spun away from him and gave a lazy wave as I hurried back to the park.

Greeting me at the bench was an irritated Hyuuga. I plopped myself down next to him, dispelling the jutsu and stole a box of sushi out of his lap. He gave me a stern look as if saying 'I know what you did and you're in big trouble.' Defending myself I rationally retorted, "but he had it coming, Neji and you know it." He just shook his head, his silky, long hair swirling around his face as he picked up his chopsticks and popped a sushi roll into his mouth. Sighing I followed suit.


	5. PLEASE READ!

Hello everyone. As you have probably guess I have discontinued this story...yep! Thanks for all your guys' supports and comments though, for they were highly appreciated. I was wondering if anyone would be willing and wanted to adopt this story for it is of no further use to me. Oh and after this story has been adopted, if someone does this account will be terminated. To read my new story which is full of Naruto angst and in my opinion is written far more craftily, you may search for "To Change a Demon's Nature" by Infinity of Silence, my new account. Again thank you all for your support and comments.

Sincerely,

SilentAvalon


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